If your doctor has recommended the prescription drug cabotegravir (Apretude) for you, you’d probably like to learn more about it. Here are answers to some common questions people have about this medicine.

Cabotegravir (Apretude) is a long-acting medicine, given as a shot, that helps to prevent HIV in adults and teens who are at risk for the virus. Doctors call this type of preventive medication pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. It lowers your risk of getting HIV from sex or injected drug use.

It’s a type of medicine called an HIV integrase inhibitor. If you’re exposed to HIV, this medicine stops the virus from getting into your cells and making copies of itself. This can prevent a long-term infection with the virus.

Yes. There are other PrEP medicines that you take by mouth. Cabotegravir (Apretude) is the first injected PrEP medication the FDA has approved for long-term HIV prevention.

You need to take an HIV test before you start taking it, and another one before each injection of the drug. Cabotegravir (Apretude) has a boxed warning (a type of labeling that the FDA requires for drugs with serious safety risks) that says you must have a negative HIV test result before every dose.

Regular testing is important because it’s possible to have an HIV infection without knowing it. 

If you’re HIV-positive and take this medicine, it could make the virus harder to treat. If you do test positive for HIV, you’ll need other medicines to treat the infection.

Before you take this medicine, make sure to tell your doctor if:

  • You’re allergic to cabotegravir or any other medicines. Cabotegravir can cause allergic reactions in people who are sensitive to the drug or any of its ingredients. Your pharmacist can give you a list of the ingredients. 
  • You’ve ever had hepatitis B, hepatitis C, or other liver problems. Rarely, this medicine may harm the liver.
  • You have depression or any other mental health condition. Some people have had symptoms of depression or thoughts of suicide while taking cabotegravir.
  • You’re pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to be. Doctors don’t know whether cabotegravir is safe to take during pregnancy or while nursing. There’s no evidence that it causes problems during pregnancy, but a similar type of medicine (another integrase inhibitor) has been linked to birth defects.

Before you get the shot, your doctor may recommend that you take a cabotegravir pill (Vocabria) for a month. That’s to see how you react to the medicine and whether you have any side effects.

If you react well, you’ll get two shots of cabotegravir spaced 1 month apart. Your doctor or nurse gives you the shots in the muscles of your buttocks. After those 2 doses, you get cabotegravir shots once every 2 months.

PrEP medicines like cabotegravir lower your risk of HIV infection from sex by about 99%. According to the FDA, clinical studies found that the injectable medication reduced the risk of HIV infection better than the oral PrEP drug emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (Truvada), and it worked for 2 months. 

In one study, cabotegravir reduced HIV transmission by nearly 70% compared with the oral PrEP drug in men who have sex with men and transgender women. 

Another study showed that in cisgender women (those who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth), this medicine reduced the risk of HIV infection by 90% compared with the oral PrEP medication.

The drug works best when you take every dose on the schedule that your doctor recommends.

Some side effects you could have while taking cabotegravir are:

  • Diarrhea
  • Fever
  • Headache
  • Pain, swelling, or bumps on your skin where you got the shot
  • Nausea
  • Sleep problems
  • Tiredness

Most side effects may go away in a few days or weeks as your body gets used to the medicine. Tell your doctor if you have a side effect that bothers you or lasts a long time.

Call your doctor right away if you notice:

  • Confusion
  • Extreme tiredness
  • Rash
  • Swelling of your lips, mouth, or tongue
  • Trouble breathing
  • Unusual bleeding or bruising
  • Yellow skin or eyes

You have a 7-day window to get the shot. If you know you won’t be able to get your dose during that time, ask your doctor if you can take a cabotegravir pill daily until you can schedule another shot. If you’re more than 7 days late for your cabotegravir shot and you haven’t taken pills, ask your doctor how to protect yourself against HIV.

The pharmaceutical company ViiV Healthcare makes cabotegravir.

The retail price for a dose is around $3,700. But how much you actually pay depends on your health insurance coverage. Medicaid and most other health insurance plans cover the cost of PrEP. The Affordable Care Act requires almost all health plans to cover PrEP at no cost to you.

If you do have out-of-pocket costs and can’t afford them, the Apretude Savings Program may help lower your expenses. You might even get this medicine for free. There are also programs to help people with no insurance cover the costs. 

This medication is not sold in generic form. Another PrEP medicine, emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (Truvada), has a generic version.

Show Sources

SOURCES:

Apretude: “Apretude Copay Program.”

CDC: “Paying for PrEP,” “PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis).”

FDA: “FDA Approves First Injectable Treatment for HIV Pre-Exposure Prevention,” “Highlights of Prescribing Information: Apretude.”

Clinicalinfo HIV.gov: “Cabotegravir.”

HIVinfo.NIH.gov: “Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis.”

MedlinePlus: “Cabotegravir injection.”

ViiV Healthcare: “What is the list price of Apretude?”

© 2023 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved. View privacy policy and trust info